Editorial: Nothing new about heroin epidemic

Associated Press, Feb. 5, 2014: "Four people were taken into custody on drug charges after police investigating Philip Seymour Hoffman's death executed search warrants, two people with knowledge of the investigation said Wednesday. Police have been investigating his death as a suspected drug overdose.

"The Oscar-winning actor, 46, was found dead Sunday with a needle in his arm, and tests found heroin in samples from at least 50 packets in his apartment in Manhattan's Greenwich Village

"... The NYPD's intensive effort to determine the source of the drugs in an apparent accidental overdose is unusual.

"Hoffman had been frank about struggling with substance abuse. ... In interviews last year, he said he had relapsed, had developed a heroin problem and had gone to rehab for a time. Hoffman's relatives said they were devastated by a death both "tragic and sudden." His funeral is scheduled for Friday."

When a celebrity ODs and dies, especially in such a public way, it's amazing how much attention suddenly focuses on a problem as grim and prevalent as heroin addiction.

But it's no accident overdoses are up as the supply increases and the price drops. Packets of heroin such as those found in Hoffman's apartment sell for as little as $6 on the street and often come with stamped logos. Here's some packet names from New York City: "Grim Reaper," "Ace of Spades," "Lady Gaga," "Twilight."

One theory on the rise of heroin use among the more affluent is that efforts to end the abuse of prescription opioid medications could be leading people to buy relatively cheap black market heroin.

Heroin seizures in New York are up 67 percent over the past four years, while overdose deaths shot up by 84 percent between 2010 and 2012. People are dying from heroin mixed with fentanyl, an opiate usually found in patches given to cancer patients, and increasingly found in drugs seized from dealers, who don't warn users of the mixture.

Heroin isn't only a big-city problem. In Vermont, the governor last month devoted his entire State of the State message to what he said was "a full-blown heroin crisis" there.

And in Santa Cruz County, heroin has long been a scourge.

Nearly four years ago, the Sentinel ran an extensive special report on the prevalence of the heroin trade in and around the city of Santa Cruz.

In the first part, we showed how certain parts of the city were plagued by the heroin trade -- Harvey West, Pogonip, Highway 9 and along the San Lorenzo River.

In the second, we reported how people arrested on heroin dealing charges often face minimal consequences in our legal system.

In our concluding segment, we talked about treatment options for addicts.

The themes were chosen deliberately; each pointed out where things had to change.

In ensuing years, with the public outcry over discarded needles and drug camps, there's more awareness of the misery wreaked by heroin and other hard drugs prevalent in our county.

Here's what we wrote back in 2010: "Santa Cruz has long had an uneasy relationship with the drug culture ... Santa Cruz (has) a reputation as an easy place to score heroin. But changes can be made to stem the tide ..."

Among the changes we advocated then, and now: Put dealers in jail in a county where many believe prosecution for drug crimes is lax. Continue to ramp up treatment and court-related programs that combine close supervision and consequences, which are necessary for most addicts to have a chance at staying clean. Get more help for local police in cutting off the supply of drugs and the illegal drug culture. Take back open spaces to make dealers and users uncomfortable.

"Heroin flourishes in secrecy and hiding places. Shining a light banishes the darkness."